The lawyers’ role

After decades of silence, I decided to write for public consumption.  Writing, of course, has been a daily dose for me.  There are just too many legal briefs to prepare, and deadlines to beat. Lawyers do these for a fee, except in rare pro bono cases.

But lawyers too are citizens, as Manny Valdehuesa, a fellow columnist, aptly said.  The practice of law is not a rehearsal of some sort that you can undo several times over.  Whenever and wherever justice has failed, there are some innocent souls who languish in the damp and cold concrete prison cells, and the guilty ones who, having the financial resource, go scot-free. When this happens, a social fabric is torn apart. Society weakens.

Lawyers are not gladiators in court, to be paid handsomely if they fought well in battle.  Law, to be a truly effective tool for social order and peace, requires competent and conscientious practitioners, people who advocate the higher ends of justice, sans the fee.

Definitely, we do not need the bearers of the law who are mum amid the spate of bribery in the justice system – in the law enforcement, in the prosecution, and yes, even in the bench.  These are lawyers  who  are  only up to fattening their pockets, a practice of law without a social conscience.

Look around.  Even the blind could see, and even the deaf could hear the cries of injustice.

There is Taglimao, a barangay which is near the city proper in terms of distance but would take an hour to reach due to bad roads, roads which are fit for off-road racing. Do the city officials know that Taglimao is part of their governance?  To make matter worse, the mostly unlettered residents are being harassed by barangay officials either by threat of bodily harm or legal suits.  That is plain terrorism.

Does anybody know that within our protected watershed areas, there is a plan to construct a cassava processing plant which threatens our potable water with cyanide which is a by-product of cassava? Who will stop this incessant threat to our environment?

For the incompetence of the prosecution to smell the fabrication of a case, one Geronimo Banac was indicted for rape, jailed for seven years in Lumbia city jail, and finally acquitted and released for lack of evidence.  Who will now compensate him for the loss of his dignity and sense of pride?

Take our lawmakers.  They extended the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law up to June 30, 2009, with a condition: lands would be covered under agrarian reform voluntarily.  They must be joking.  No landowners, not even the church, would voluntarily give up their lands.  Who will now fight for the cause of farmers who, in the language of then Raul Manglapus, “have been in the bondage of the lands they till”?

In a state of injustice, the bearers of the law must advocate, and fight ferociously as gladiators, in the court of justice, and in the court of public opinion as well.  But unlike gladiators of old times, the lawyers should bear witness to truth, law, and justice,  without expecting anything in return but the altruistic feeling that they too as citizens, have helped keep social order and communal peace.

There is a joke about lawyers.  In the genesis story, God created the earth, and gave order to the universe.  But before there was order, chaos presided.  Lawyers, who preside on chaos, therefore must have preceded creation.

This is an unfortunate joke, a virtual verdict of the law practice in the Philippines.  True indeed, there are misfits within the ranks.  Go to Manila, and you see  lawyers who put up a small mobile office to solicit notarial services.  There are those who are retained by drug-lords and gambling lords and do no lawyering duties except negotiating for the release of drug pushers or gambling dens operators, and inevitably bribe government officials. Others still are bragging in public about their close relations with a fiscal, or a judge , and could therefore fix a case.

This kind of lawyering takes away the majesty of the law, the true and noble function of the law as instrument developed through social evolution.  Out of the chaotic earthly life, it is the law that gives order, through peace pacts among warring tribes, treaties among the present day states, and the civil and criminal laws within a nation.  Take away the law, and true indeed, chaos will reign.

In a state of injustice, in the muddied waters of law and order, the law must spark; otherwise, we might go back to the evolutionary age when the fittest survive, and the weak, extinct. We would then be nothing but members of Darwin’s animal kingdom: less divine, more brutish.

In the new year 2009, let the law spark, within our hearts, specially in  the conscience of the bearers of the law.

let the law spark

After decades of silence, I decided to write for public consumption. Writing, of course, has been a daily dose for me. There are just too many legal briefs to prepare, and deadlines to beat. Lawyers do these for a fee, except in rare pro bono cases.

But lawyers too are citizens, as Manny Valdehuesa, a fellow columnist, aptly said. The practice of law is not a rehearsal of some sort that you can undo several times over. Whenever and wherever justice has failed, there are some innocent souls who languish in the damp and cold concrete prison cells, and the guilty ones who, having the financial resource, go scot-free. When this happens, a social fabric is torn apart. Society weakens.

Lawyers are not gladiators in court, to be paid handsomely if they fought well in battle. Law, to be a truly effective tool for social order and peace, requires competent and conscientious practitioners, people who advocate the higher ends of justice, sans the fee.

Definitely, we do not need the bearers of the law who are mum amid the spate of bribery in the justice system – in the law enforcement, in the prosecution, and yes, even in the bench. These are lawyers who are only up to fattening their pockets, a practice of law without a social conscience.

Look around. Even the blind could see, and even the deaf could hear the cries of injustice.

There is Taglimao, a barangay which is near the city proper in terms of distance but would take an hour to reach due to bad roads, roads which are fit for off-road racing. Do the city officials know that Taglimao is part of their governance? To make matter worse, the mostly unlettered residents are being harassed by barangay officials either by threat of bodily harm or legal suits. That is plain terrorism.

Does anybody know that within our protected watershed areas, there is a plan to construct a cassava processing plant which threatens our potable water with cyanide which is a by-product of cassava? Who will stop this incessant threat to our environment?

For the incompetence of the prosecution to smell the fabrication of a case, one Geronimo Banac was indicted for rape, jailed for seven years in Lumbia city jail, and finally acquitted and released for lack of evidence. Who will now compensate him for the loss of his dignity and sense of pride?

Take our lawmakers. They extended the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law up to June 30, 2009, with a condition: lands would be covered under agrarian reform voluntarily. They must be joking. No landowners, not even the church, would voluntarily give up their lands. Who will now fight for the cause of farmers who, in the language of then Raul Manglapus, “have been in the bondage of the lands they till”?

In a state of injustice, the bearers of the law must advocate, and fight ferociously as gladiators, in the court of justice, and in the court of public opinion as well. But unlike gladiators of old times, the lawyers should bear witness to truth, law, and justice, without expecting anything in return but the altruistic feeling that they too as citizens, have helped keep social order and communal peace.

There is a joke about lawyers. In the genesis story, God created the earth, and gave order to the universe. But before there was order, chaos presided. Lawyers, who preside on chaos, therefore must have preceded creation.

This is an unfortunate joke, a virtual verdict of the law practice in the Philippines.  True indeed, there are misfits within the ranks.  Go to Manila, and you see  lawyers who put up a small mobile office to solicit notarial services.  There are those who are retained by drug-lords and gambling lords and do no lawyering duties except negotiating for the release of drug pushers or gambling dens operators, and inevitably bribe government officials. Others still are bragging in public about their close relations with a fiscal, or a judge , and could therefore fix a case.

This kind of lawyering takes away the majesty of the law, the true and noble function of the law as instrument developed through social evolution.  Out of the chaotic earthly life, it is the law that gives order, through peace pacts among warring tribes, treaties among the present day states, and the civil and criminal laws within a nation. Take away the law, and true indeed, chaos will reign.

In a state of injustice, in the muddied waters of law and order, the law must spark; otherwise, we might go back to the evolutionary age when the fittest survive, and the weak, extinct. We would then be nothing but members of Darwin’s animal kingdom: less divine, more brutish.

In the new year 2009, let the law spark, within our hearts, specially in  the conscience of the bearers of the law.

the tensions of confidentiality

Priests and lawyers, the two have parallel duties, although their domain are poles apart: the former is lawyering, as it were, for the life hereinafter, while the latter is counselling for the earthly concerns. Both professions, or vocations though, have a sacred duty: to keep confidential all information relayed in the discharge of their functions.

And here lies the torment.

In a catholic community, the most informed person is the priest. Owing to his calling, he has to know the events in his parish; and owing too to his profession, he has information on what goes in the private lives of his parishioners. The parishioners who go to a confessional pour out their souls to the minister. Lawyers, in any community, catholic or otherwise, are well-informed about the private lives of their clients as they pour our their fears if they are charged, or anger if they are the aggrieved.

But whatever information they received in confidence, priests and lawyers have the duty to keep them precisely confidential. Short of this, these two violate the sacred oath they have taken, which oath invoked God, with right palm on the Bible.

A neophyte priest or lawyer will initially suffer the information overload. His few years in the practice of his calling will naturally be stressful. But experience and the passing years will teach him how to take things in stride, else, his sojourn on earth will be brief.

But even with the long experience, the lawyer and priest, are sometimes confronted with information that has strong relevance not only of the private lives but of the public welfare in general. There are informations received in confidence which have direct bearing on the welfare of the community. It is this kind of information which causes great tension, and dilemna; it’s weight on the lawyer or priest, is at times unbearable. Supposed there is an event which proved too disastrous to the community and you have the information on who caused the tragedy, but owing to your sacred vow, you cannot reveal any information. Imagine the weight of the burden that you carry.

The philosophical debate has not been resolved. It is raging still. Should private interest be sacrificed in the altar of public welfare? But if the lawyer or priest be compelled to reveal information received in confidence in the course of the practice of his calling, will not the public interest be sacrificed in the long run? If you have lawyers who cannot keep the sacred vow of secrecy, then who among the public will go to the lawyer and confide his case. In the long run, the administration of justice will suffer a paralysis. The bedrock of legal counselling will collapse.

Lately, the Philippines is beset with two issues of international concerns. These issues are all-over the tri-media, and everytime the news are flashed on tv or print, I would almost puke when lies are spread, repeated, and for every repetition, the lies are getting bigger, and the agony is that you know the truth, but the truth, by force of the oath, cannot come into the light.

I have been re-examining my oath. Should I break the oath of confidentiality so that the public interest be served? But to do so is to betray my client, and ultimately, I will be a traitor to the calling which , from the moment I was of age, I could not think of any other profession except lawyering. Betraying my client, is a treachery to the person that I have become.

Everytime I read the news, and the falsity of the assertions, I may have to take a deep gulp, close my mouth, and bury inside the truth as a symbol of loyalty to my client and my profession.